Harry Potter

So here we are, at the conclusion of the young wizard's tale. And "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" shouldn't disappoint.

"Part 2" is a battle-packed, emotionally charged and morally deft end to a series that has never shied away from deep and aching meaning.

Harry and dearest friends Ron and Hermione arrive at the showdown with the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have played their magical parts with growing charm and deserve new adventures of their own. And it will be good to see the talented Ralph Fiennes out of fright makeup, nose intact, once the battles cease.

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At their savviest, the books and films have reckoned with good and evil but also with the good and ill in each of us, finding hints of shadow in the most decent of heroes.

"Part 2" takes that tussle to an amazing crisis point.

The great wizard Albus Dumbledore is dead. Severus Snape, the most goth of professors and Voldemort's minion — portrayed with brilliant, unyielding severity by Alan Rickman — rules Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Photos: Quidditch anyone?

There are four Horcruxes left out of the seven Harry must find and destroy if he's to defeat Voldemort. The Dark Lord has gained Dumbledore's wand.

It's fair to say that this is not a sequel one can wander willy-nilly into and know what the heck's going on.

Without giving too much away, one of the last Horcruxes presents Harry (and all those who love him) with a dilemma worthy of great heroic literature.

The franchise finale is a testament to how much has changed — but also remained foundational — for the bespectacled hero and pop-culture phenom. Friendships have been tested and love tempted.

Director David Yates and writer Steve Kloves have taken to heart their stewardship of the franchise, begun with "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." They — and author Rowling — have always teased the light in the friendships. But in this war-riven ending, they haven't avoided misery.

As the once-stately Hogwarts is nearly reduced to dun rubble and Voldemort and his legion are advancing, it's seldom been clearer just how deeply British this story's roots are.

Forget the fantastic ensembles that have included (or still do) a who's who of Brit acting talent: Dame Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Gary Oldman, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Gambon, who replaced the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore in the third installment.

Instead, it is the sense that Hogwarts has suffered blitzkrieg-like blows as London did in World War II. Voldemort represents a true and maniacal malevolence. Beloved friends lie in the rubble. Other characters find their surprising mettle.

This may be why the movie's epilogue feels a little conventional: the tidy resolutions in a coda that feels gently triumphant, but also tacked-on.

Of course, when you've loved characters for more than 10 years, you want the best for them. And the final scene does capture what happened after WWII and must take place after every war. We mourn our lost. We commit to love. We make a life for ourselves and our beloveds.

In the 10 years since Harry's first big- screen close-up, the spell has never been broken. And we Muggles have been made better for the magic.

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